Bengaluru police partners with Google to reduce traffic congestion

Bengaluru Traffic Police have shared hundreds of updates with Google as part of the project Gowda said. This partnership is great and will help to reduce road congestion and enhance road safety, he added.

Bengaluru: Bengaluru Traffic Police is partnering with Google for a pilot project to optimize traffic signal configuration to reduce traffic signal wait time for commuters. Talking about the initiative, for of its kind in India, B.R. Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said that Google has used Artificial Intelligence to look at the driving trends from Google maps to recommend a revised plan.

This will reduce wait time at pilot signals by 20% per commuter, 400 hours per day per intersection, and 73,000 hours per year at the pilot intersections. This will reduce congestion, wait time, fuel consumption, road rage, and greenhouse gas emissions, he said. If this is extended to other intersections across the city, one crore vehicles will be benefitted, he added.

The pilot project also includes live updates on road closures, incidents, and other data. This will ensure that commuters get real-time updates and can use alternative routes through Google maps, he said.

Bengaluru Traffic Police have shared hundreds of updates with Google as part of the project Gowda said. This partnership is great and will help to reduce road congestion and enhance road safety, he added. The pilot project also includes introducing speed limits on Google maps for commuters for the first time, he said. Coming together of technology companies such as Google and the government will truly transform society, Gowda said.

Traffic management in Bangalore is a humongous task and hence the department is using technology for better traffic management. This includes digitization of traffic challans, contactless enforcement, and synchronization of signals.